Monday, March 29, 2010

Easter 2010

Luke 24: 4b-8

"...suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' "Then they remembered his words."

When I was growing up, my grandpa used to have a sign hanging up near his workshop. It read, "When all is said and done, usually more is said than done." Isn't that the truth? In contrast and in the case of our risen Savior Jesus: 'When all is said and done: 'what is said is done,' and 'all is done.'

And in some cases even, 'more was done than said.' Mark 15:29-32, "Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!" In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him." There were plenty of things Jesus could have said in reply that wouldn't have caused Him to breach any of the Ten Commandments. But actions speak louder than words, and as Jesus showed us, quiet actions speak the loudest of all, as He quietly, humbly and deliberately carried out His part in the plan of our Salvation. This was also Jesus doing what the prophet Isaiah had said He would: Isaiah 53:7, "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." In some cases with Jesus, 'more was done than said.'

This isn't to say that Jesus said nothing. In the Gospel of Luke there are a number of times when Jesus said to His disciples what He would be doing. Luke 18:31-33, "Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again." Because we, as Paul Harvey would put it, 'know the rest of the story;' the empty tomb that those women found is the beautiful evidence for us that Jesus did what He said to His disciples He was going to do, which is also what the prophets said that He was going to do. And after the angels, who were decked out in 'lightning gleam wear,' suddenly appeared and reminded them, the women at the empty tomb remembered these same words and realized in the case of Jesus, what is said is done.

When my sister was in college she papered one of her apartment walls and used it as a larger than life size canvass to create a fun list of things that she wanted to accomplish that summer. There were probably a hundred different things written on that wall. As she completed something on the list she would check it off. I don't remember if she was ever able to check everything off the list. We probably all have lists that contain items that remain unchecked. Not so with Jesus. His checklist that God the Father drew up, detailing what needed to be done to redeem the lost and condemned creatures, was fully checked off.

Live a perfect life as a substitute for those who lived everything but a perfect life (33 years) - check. In the process fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies - check. Be delivered into the hands of sinful men (Maundy Thursday) - check. Die on the cross to pay for the sins of ____________ (insert your name here), and for the sins of all the other people who ever were given a soul (Good Friday) - check. And now to the one that we will be remembering and celebrating this upcoming Sunday - to the one that the women at the tomb realized after remembering His words: On the third day be raised again (Easter Sunday) - check. When all was said and done, all was done!

Well, almost all. There's no question about it that the empty tomb tells us that all was completely done when it comes to Jesus Christ's work of redemption. But Jesus still has one more checklist to work on. Jesus revealed the items on this checklist to his disciples on Thursday of Holy Week. John 14:2-3, "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." Prepare a place for those who believe in Him - check. Come back and take these believers to be with Him so that they also may be where He is - check. These items obviously aren't checked off yet. But because of the work of the Holy Spirit and through faith, we can be absolutely certain that if we were to check off these items with a permanent marker, that we won't be needing any white-out. Because when all is said and done with Jesus, what is said is done and all is done.

He is Risen! He is Risen and has done all that He said He would -His work of saving us is done -His work of preparing a place for us and taking us to that place will most certainly be done! He is Risen, indeed. Alleluia!

Monday, March 22, 2010

March 25, 2010


This upcoming Sunday we will celebrate Palm Sunday. Our Gospel Lesson is from the pen of Luke and it is the historical account of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the colt. Luke actually doesn't even mention anything about palms in his account, but when we read this same account through the eyes of John, we are told that the people who gathered along the road to see this King ride in, took palm branches with them (John 12:13). (By the way, you have a beautiful stained-glass window depicting this very scene - it's too dark to appreciate it tonight, but make sure you take a look and enjoy it on Sunday morning). The name that we give this Sunday before Easter that kicks off Holy Week is obviously named after those palm branches that the crowd laid down on the path.

Tonight though, we're going to focus on a different kind of palm. I read a piece of trivia somewhere that over 1/3 of what is written in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) takes place in the 7 days of world history from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. This week is big, not only in its coverage in the Gospels, but also because this is the week that believers for thousands of years, all the way back to Adam and Eve, were waiting for! Because this is our final rehearsal before we celebrate and remember the events of Holy Week, let's take some time to review some of those events. Let's take some time to look at the 'Hands of Holy Week,' starting with the hands of Palm Sunday.

Picture the hands of the crowd gathered along the path to Jerusalem. Hands that removed cloaks and spread them on the ground to create what we today might call a 'red carpet.' (Luke 19:36) No one in the crowd realized that the path they were creating would lead this King, in less than a week's time, to where He would wage the greatest battle ever - and win, and triumph over sin, death and the devil.

Picture the hands of the Pharisees who who really wished they had enough hands to cover the mouths of those who shouted praises to the King. (Luke 19:39)

Picture the hands of Jesus - one hand feeling the fur of the donkey he rode on - one hand ushering the attention of the Pharisees to a stone that was on the path. The Pharisees told Jesus to get his disciples to quiet down and Jesus replied, Luke 19:40 "I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

Picture the hand of Judas in that upper room on Thursday of Holy Week. His hand open, palm-up, ready to receive a piece of the broken bread. (Luke 22:19) And then hours, maybe only minutes later - both of his hands, palms-up and open, greedily ready to receive the sack of coins that he decided was most important to him. (Matthew 26:15)

Picture the hands of Jesus at the Mount of Olives- folded in prayer, hands dripping in sweat as his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow. (Luke 22:44)

Picture the hand of Jesus in the middle of His arrest, when any other human would have been thinking only of themselves and about the injustice. His hand performed one more miracle as His hand touched the ear of the servant of the High Priest, miraculously putting the ear back together. (Luke 22:51)

Picture the hands of Simon Peter in the courtyard. One minute he was rubbing his hands together by the fire to keep warm. The next minute he was waving his hands to visually communicate: 'No, I don't know Him." And then again "No, I don't know Him." And then a third time, "No, I don't know Him." (Luke 22:54-59)

Picture the hands of those guarding Jesus - hands that were slapping and striking the face of Jesus, which was just a part of their fun and games. (Luke 22:63)

Picture the hands of the Jews in Judge Pilate's audience as their hands turned into clenched fists which they threw in the air while chanting, "Crucify Him!" (Matthew 27:22)

Picture the hands of Pilate. He heard from his wife and agreed that something wasn't right about what was unfolding in front of him, but because he was most concerned about his status in the eyes of Rome, he decided to try to figuratively wash his hands of this situation - and so he also literally washed his hands in front of the crowd. (Matthew 27:19 and 24)

Picture the hands of Jesus, as far away from each other as possible, on the end of outstretched arms - hands nailed to the tree - hands dripping with blood from the nails driven through them. (John 19:18)

Picture the hands of the women carrying supplies and spices to Jesus' tomb, which they found to be empty because it wasn't able to hold our Savior who was raised just as He predicted. (Mark 16:1) This scene reminds me of my favorite Proverb - Proverbs 19:21: "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails." Those women had plans in their hearts as they headed to the tomb on that first Easter morning. Thankfully for them, and for us, their plans were foiled and God's purpose to save the world through His Son prevailed!

Picture the hands of Jesus when He appeared to His disciples once again - hands that now were marked with scars, hands that served as evidence that He accomplished what He came into this world to accomplish, hands that Thomas just had to see to believe. (John 20:27)

Tonight we have pictured a 'handful' of the events of Holy Week. During this week a number of prophecies made by Old Testament prophets were fulfilled, starting with Palm Sunday when the prophecy from our Old Testament Lesson for this upcoming Sunday which comes from the book of Zechariah was fulfilled. (Zechariah 9:9) The events of Holy Week didn't happen by accident, God was very much in control of the events. They happened exactly when and where and how He wanted them to. Think back to Palm Sunday when Jesus told the Pharisees if the crowd keeps quiet, the stones will cry out. In a way Jesus was saying that nothing the Pharisees could do would stop God from carrying out His plan. God could make stones cry out or do anything else that was needed to carry out His plan of Salvation. Or think of how Jesus responded to Pilate when Pilate told Jesus that he felt he had control of Jesus' fate, Jesus told Pilate: John 19:11, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above." Or think of Jesus in Gethsemane when He was overwhelmed with the magnitude of what He was about to do, and He asked His Father God if there was any other way - Jesus also knew that it was God the Father's will that would be done. (Luke 22:42)

I can't help but thinking of a couple of different songs. One is a Sunday School Song - 'He's Got the Whole World in His Hands.' The other one is the refrain of a hymn from our Hymnal, CW#440, "And He will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of His hand." Of all the palms we have pictured tonight, isn't this the most beautiful palm of all? How beautiful it is to be held in the palm of our God, who was in control of the events of Holy Week, who is still in control today, and who will one day take us from the palm of His hand into eternity - where we will sing praises to the King, somewhat similar to those the crowd sang to the King on that first Palm Sunday.

Dear God,

During this tough time, keep Graeme Aufdemberge and the whole Aufdemberge family in the palm of your hand. Remind us that Your ways are not our ways, and Your thoughts our not our thoughts. As hard as it is for us to understand, help us realize that this is part of your plan for the Aufdemberges. Thank you for keeping the events of Holy Week in the palm of your hand so that your plan of Salvation for us could be accomplished. Keep us all in the palm of your hand until you bring us to the safety of Heaven.

Because of what your Son did for us and in His name we pray,

Amen.

(Graeme Aufdemberge is the 11 year old son of Pastor Mark Aufdemberge who serves as the Pastor at Jordan. This past weekend the Aufdemberges were grilling out over a fire pit at the home of some extended family. The adults left the fire pit briefly to go inside to get the brats, the fire was going out, so Graeme and his cousin found a gas can in the shed. Graeme has 2nd degree burns on his face and side, has undergone surgery and has been recovering at Children's Hospital. Please keep Graeme and the Aufdemberges in your prayers.)

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

March 18, 2010

I've obviously never given birth to a child, but I was there in the labor and delivery room for the hours and hours of labor that led up to the delivery of my two daughters. Those of you ladies who have given birth to children would probably agree with me that when the time finally comes and you give birth, you are delivering, but you are also being delivered. You're delivering into this world your son or daughter, but you're also being delivered, you're being saved, you're being set free, you're being liberated from the pains of labor.

Throughout the pages of Scriptures we find example after example of how our God likes to, in a number of different ways, provide deliverance. One example would be all of the different cities and nations that the LORD delivered into the hands of the Israelites as they were taking possession of the Promised Land. Our Old Testament lesson for this upcoming Sunday comes once again from the book of Isaiah, where we find Isaiah goes back into Old Testament history even further than the time of the Promised Land to the time when the Children of Israel were delivered from the yoke of the Egyptians - back to that mass exodus miracle that was staged at the Red Sea.

Isaiah 43:16-21 16 This is what the LORD says—he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, 17 who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: 18 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. 20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

It's not that Isaiah didn't want his audience to remember how God had delivered the Israelites from slavery and from the Egyptians. In fact God commanded them to remember it by celebrating the Passover every year. But the point in these verses of Isaiah is that this deliverance from the Egyptians was just a foreshadowing. The Great Deliverance, the real deal when it comes to deliverance was yet to come - this deliverance was finally realized on the Cross of Calvary, and it was recognized on that first Easter morning. Remember from the Gospel of Luke where we are told that when the women got to the tomb on that first Easter Morning that they couldn't find Jesus' body. And they were greeted by 2 angels who told them to remember what Jesus had told them when He was with them in Galilee: Luke 24:7 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' Because Jesus was delivered into the hands of those who would crucify Him, and because He was raised again, we are delivered from from sin, death and the devil.

Now let's go back all the way in Old Testament history. Let's go back to when our first parents, Adam and Eve, were first in trouble. They didn't 'seek God' - they didn't 'make a decision for Christ' - they didn't 'come to Jesus' - in fact they did they exact opposite - they retreated in silence and attempted to hide. When God 'found' them, He could have killed them right then and there. Romans 6:23 tells us that "...the wages of sin is death..." But God had mercy, He did tell Eve that she would experience the pain and agony of labor and delivery, but He also showed His grace and gave them the promise of a Savior. From that point on the whole focus of the entire world changed and that focus was now pointed ahead to the Cross. This gets back to the point of our lesson for this Sunday - Isaiah was telling the people to keep their eyes focused in the right direction, to keep their eyes looking ahead to the promised Savior.

God kept His promise to Adam and Eve -the promise to those who heard and read the words from Isaiah - the promise that He would send a Savior. God provided "water in the desert and streams in the wasteland." We can be confident that because of another promise, Jesus will someday come into this world one more time and get our bodies and souls together to go back with Him to Heaven. And just as at the end of the pain and labor of childbirth, you end up being filled with joy as you get to hold your little one in your arms for the first time; so when we are finally delivered from the sadness and pain of this earth and our eternity in paradise begins, we will also be overjoyed. Our God always keeps His promises. In this way too you could say that our God, always 'delivers.'

Dear God,

Thank you for allowing your one and only Son to be delivered into the hands of those that crucified Him on that tree. His delivery delivered us from sin and the eternity in hell that our sin's deserve. Please send Jesus again soon to make His final delivery, when He will deliver our bodies and souls to the doorstep of Heaven. Come Lord Jesus! Amen!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

March 11, 2010

(sung to the tune of Jack Noble White's 'The First Song if Isaiah' ) 'Surely it is God who saves me. I will trust in Him and not be afraid. For the LORD is my stronghold and my sure defense, and He will be my Savior.'

Do you recognize that song? I imagine you've sung it a few times over the years. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly: the first time I ever heard you sing, when I was playing trumpet for your hymn-service last year, you sang this song. It's Jack Noble White's 'First Song of Isaiah.' The lyrics are tightly based on our Old Testament Lesson for this upcoming Sunday which comes from the 12th Chapter of Isaiah. I'll read Isaiah 12 now, it's not very long:

1 In that day you will say: "I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. 2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. 5 Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."

Your unbelieving neighbors probably don't appreciate the words of this song from Isaiah as much as you or I do, in fact the words may even sound a little foolish to them. I Corinthians tells us that "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing..." Your unbelieving neighbor, pumped full of the devil's lies, might even have a 'First Song' of their own: (also sung to the tune of Jack Noble White's 'The First Song of Isaiah') 'Surely I don't need God to save me. I will trust in myself and I'll be good. For I've done some good and I'm not that bad, so I don't really need a Savior.'

Imagine for a minute that you walked into a room, and on the back wall of the room hung 3 full-length mirrors. You approach the first mirror and have a look. You kind of like what you see, or at least you are able to convince yourself that you like what you see. You see someone who is pretty smart, after all, you weren't born yesterday. You see someone who really feels that they have control of their life, someone who's found a way to get a good balance, someone that has things figured out. You see someone who hasn't really done anything that bad, at least not recently; you're not perfect, but for sure you've done enough good to cancel out that bad. Overall, this mirror makes you look pretty good. This mirror reflects how many unbeliever see themselves. Sadly, the way that the unbeliever sees themselves in this mirror is NOT how the God of Justice sees them.

Next, you move over to the mirror in the middle. You take a look, but have to quickly turn your head away, because what you see is absolutely horrifying. You see yourself, but can barely even recognize yourself because of how filthy you look. Everything about what you see is absolutely disgusting. In Catechism class we learned that the Law has a 3-fold purpose, to curb, mirror and guide. This mirror follows that 2nd purpose as a mirror to S.O.S. us, to Show us Our Sins. This mirror shows us how filthy we really are. People affiliated with religions that are not Christian religions, see themselves in this mirror and they, like us, know they have to find a way to get themselves cleaned up. Sadly their method of cleansing will leave them dirty in the eyes of the 'Seperator' on that final day of separation between those who have been washed clean and those who remain filthy.

You have had enough of this 2nd mirror, and so you approach that third full-length mirror hanging from the wall. You have a look, and you really - really like what you see. What you see fills you, no, overflows you with joy. You see yourself all cleaned up and dressed in the whitest of robes. Because of what Jesus has done, what you are seeing in the mirror is exactly how God sees you - in perfect form. Later on in Isaiah (Isaiah 61) we find, "...my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness..." Or in the first chapter of Isaiah where we find "...Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow..." This mirror gives us another S.O.S. - this mirror is the Gospel - it Shows us Our Savior - our Savior who has cleaned up all the filth we saw in that 2nd mirror.

With the Law and the Gospel in proper perspective, we can't help but join Isaiah in this song of praise. We can trust and give thanks and shout aloud and sing for joy and not be afraid. And for the sake of a neighbor, a friend, maybe even a family member - for all who still view this song from Isaiah as foolishness, we need to make sure we (in the paraphrase of Jack Noble White) 'Make His deeds known among the people,' so that they too might share in our joy.

We pray:

Dear God,

We can't thank you enough for giving us a proper understanding of Law and Gospel. Thank you for showing us how filthy we are and how much we need you, and thank you for taking care of all our filth - for taking care of our greatest need. Thank you for Jesus. Next time we sing this song from Isaiah, fill us with an extra measure of fervor as we sing for joy, and praise Your name! Cause us to share our joy with those who don't have that joy, with those who don't know You.

Amen.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

March 4, 2010

When we get to the part of the Passion History that unfolds the details of Judas betraying Jesus, do you ever find yourself thinking, 'how could Judas have done what he did?' I mean come on: The eyes of Judas saw leprous skin suddenly return to normal! The ears of Judas were filled with words that came from the very lips of Jesus! The tongue of Judas tasted the wine that was turned from water, his tongue tasted some of the bread and fish that fed the 5,000! The legs of Judas felt the boat return to normal when Jesus told the storm to quiet down. And who knows (or who 'nose')? Just to run the full gammut of the 5 senses - Judas may have even smelled Jesus' feet as they removed their sandals to rest after a long day of walking and talking! We don't know for sure that Judas was an eyewitness to all these miracles (also not saying that smelling Jesus' feet would have necessarily been miraculous), but the point is that Judas was about as close to Jesus as you can get, physically speaking, and in the end Judas ended up going with a sack of coins over Jesus.

The 2nd lesson for this upcoming Sunday comes from I Corinthians 10. I'll read verses 11-13: 11These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." In the first part of chapter 10 we are reminded of how God was very hands-on in the life of the Children of Israel. You could say that the Israelites, like Judas, were spoiled spiritually. The eyes of the Israelites saw God's presence among them in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The ears of the Israelites heard the wailing after God inflicted the plagues on the Egyptians. The tongues of the Israelites tasted the miracle manna and quail. The feet of the Israelites felt the dry ground of the Red Sea as they crossed, walking through that hallway with water for walls. And yet the majority of the Children of Israel chose to follow idols instead of following God's commands!

How about us in the 20th and 21st century? Our eyes are able to search Scripture in its entirety, with all its cross references. Our foreheads feel the water of baptism as the Holy Spirit enters us. Our ears have been hearing the Word of God for years, for many of us, from when we were in diapers. Our tongues taste the bread and wine in communion together with the body and blood of Jesus. And yet the majority of our confirmands within a short time after making their confirmation vows end up living the life of an unbeliever.

"So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" As firm as the children of Israel should have been, as firm as Judas should have been, as firm as a new confirmand should be, as firm as we feel we are - all can fall! As it is stated in I Peter, "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." The 'someone' that the devil is looking for isn't the unbeliever - they are already devoured, and there's no sense in devouring something that's already devoured. No, the roaring lion is looking for somone like an Israelite, or someone like a Judas, or someone like you or like me.

Ecclesiastes tells us that, "there is nothing new under the sun." Satan doesn't use any new strategy - just variations on the same old. Borrowing a cliche' from sports, Our best defense, against the devil, is a good offense. Just like a professional athlete will spend countless hours studying the film of their opponent to get a good idea of how they operate, so we should be spending time studying the tactics of the devil. Thankfully we have all the 'film' we need in the pages of Scripture. "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us..." Are we doing enough film study?

Even if we turn out to be 'All Star' or 'Hall of Fame' fighters against the devil, by ourselves we are no match for satan. But we have God's promise that He 'has our back,' here when it comes to temptation. "He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear...He will also provide a way out..." Because God has promised to do this, we can boldly and confidently go to Him in prayer and ask that He carry out His promise regarding temptation in our lives. Let's do that now!

Dear God,

Remind us that no Christian is safe from the assaults of that prowling lion, the devil, in fact we should expect to be assaulted. We are able to learn what kinds of assaults the devil uses by getting into your Word, and we pray for the ambition to get into your Word and to get learning. You tell us that we are able to survive the assaults of Satan, not because of our own strength, but only because you are faithful. Help us to stand firm!

In Jesus name we pray,

Amen